Apparatus for separating gold and other metals from sand, &amp;c.



E. S. HOYT. APPARATUS ron SEPARATING GOLD AND OTHER METALS PROM SAND,Ao. 'APPLICATION FILED JUNEVZ, 190B. 150641,223.

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ArPLIoATIoN FILED JUNI: 2, 190e.

E. S. HOYT. A APPARATUS PoR SDPARA'TING GOLD AND OTHER METALS FROM SAND,am.

APPLICATION FILED .TUNE Z, 1908.

Patented June 10,1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

if iiiwrriin STATES PATE-Nr .,oiiFICE. i

EznA s. Hora', or sAN LUTIS oBISrO. CALIFRNIA.

APPARATUS ron snrAaArING GOLD Aim o'rnna METALS rnom s ANi), op.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, EznA S. HoY'r, a citizen of the United States,residing at San Luis Obispo,- iii the county of San ,Luis Obispo, Stateof California, have invented a new andluseful Apparatus for SeparatingGold and'other Metals from Sand, &c., of which the following is aspecification.

A AThis invention relates` especially to means for separating gold fromgold bearing sand or gravel, pulp, mill tailings, Sac., althou theprinciple ofthe invention is applicable in other connections.

The main object of the invention is to provide means for handling alarge quantity of material, for separation of gold therefrom,.

at minimum expense.

. Another important object of the invention is to provide forpractically complete recovery of the flake or iiour gold -iii the sand,pulp land tailings.

Another object of coi/ery, of` the iine gold `and of the coarse gold;

Another object of the invention is to prolar case, according to therequirements of thematerial being treated.

Another object of the invention is toprovide in Vconnection with such amultiple unit separating apparatus, special distributor means which willsupply the ore and `water successively to the umts, dividing the orebetween theseveral units in a continuousr and` automatic manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for automaticregulation and control of the ore and water supply to the w3-faja: inFig- 2L-w Fig.. 4 is a lplan of a' .screen and movable slide valveorgate for controlling lthe passage of the material to- .tlieseparatorsFig. 5- is a vertical longiunits. 4

-In the-.accompanying drawin sp1-#Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus.ig longitudinal section of the separating units at the line 4of divisionbetween the fine and ,the coarse gold separating parts of the ma.-

chine.v Fig.- 3 isa transversesection on line tudinal section thereof.Fig; 6 is azplan of the receiving end portion of a modified form ofthe-apparatus. Fig. 7 is a vertical sec.-v

the inventionis to provide in a single machine for successive refSpeciiioation of Letters Patent. Patented June 10, 1913,

j Application led June 2,1908. Serial No. 436,265.

.1, 2, arranged in pairs in two parallel rows,

each row comprising a first set or plurality of units 1 for treatin theiiner material and a second set of umts 2 for treating the coarsermaterial. A launder or vflume 3 extends hetween the two rows ofseparators gh and somewhat above the level .of the same, f

said fiume having openings along its course l in -its bottom, therebeing one o ning for each pair of separator units, and die or gates 4are provided at these openings for controlling the passage of materialthere.- t-hrough, a screen 5 being provided .over each slide valve orgate.` Said slide valveor gate discharges onto a distributing means 6'for conveying the material to the upper end of ide valves .therespectivo units, and said unitsdischarge onto any suitable means suchas umes or troughs 7 extending along` each i side of the machine. All ofthe above part-s. are arranged .on and supported by a suitable iframe 8.

The :fiume 3 is providedwith su pleinen tary side Awalls 10 spaced fromt-e inside walls 11 of thel Hume-3 by spacing .blocksl I or partitions12, thus dividing the space between the walls 10, ilinto pockets orcouipartments 13 which communicate with the main Hume '3 throughopenings 14 in the in- Bide walls 11. Screens i9 extend over openings14. Water feed regulating pipes 15 extend and fit in openings 16 in thebottom of -the compartments 13, said pipes being opened at each end andhavin ,an opening 17 in the side `through ,whic pass theretlirough, saidwater discharging through the :bottom of the pipe onto the distributingmeans .6. Each pipe 15 lis vertif" vcally slidabie `in the opening 16 so.as to `enable the' ilevel of the water inlet .opening 17 tov beadjusted according to the requirements,

water can i and is provided with slidable gates or closures 18 for theopening 17, to regulate the walter supplyto the ritiie units.

A iioatin .drag or deector plate l-20fisI hinged onpivoted in the ilume3 as by-means ofa rock shaft 21 journaled in the side wal-1S 11 .of sameiiume, -the said drag extending K from and'secured to .said rock shaftand having its forward end bent or shaped to present a forwardly anddownwardly inclined face or lip 39 to the water and material traversingthe flume, this port-ion of the drag being directly over the dischargeslide valve or gate 4, so that the flume serves to concentrate the flowand scour, and to maintain a definite head and quantity ofwater at thegate independent of temporary variations in the supply.

The discharge slide valve or gate 4 consists of a sliding plate movablelongitudinally on a seat or stationary plate `22, the said two plateshaving transverse slots or openings 23, 24, which register when the gateis fully open and can be brought out of register by moving the slideplate 4 to close the gate, this operation. being effected by a lever 25on a rock shaft 26 and an arm 27 thereon connected to the plate 22. Aspring 30 tends to draw the gate to closed position, this movement beingarrested by an adjustable stop 42, which 1s set for`the proper deliveryof fluid, so that when it is desired to flush the gate, the lever can bepulled to open position and allow a full run of water through the gate,clearing the gate. On then releasing the lever the gate is pulled tonormal position by the spring. The valve late 4 and its seat plate 22are arranged 1n a recess 29 in the bottom of the flume 3 so that theyare somewhat below the general course of the water in the fiume, and thescreen plate 5 is placed at the to of said recess flush with the bottomof tlie flume, said screen plate having openings 31 of a snliicient sizeto permit the passage therethrough of material of a ineness suitable forthe operation of the riflies. The aforesaid partsnamely, the gate andthe screen, are located at the mid-width of the fiume yand the bottom ofthe flume dips upon each Side toward the mid-width of the fiume so thatthere is a constant tendency of the material to settle or wash to themiddle and onto the discharge screen and gate. The fiume 3 inclinescontinuously from its upper to its lower end, the successive riflleunits 1, 2, being at successively lower planes and the side walls of thefiume converge from the upper toward the lower end. The gates 4 andtheir seats 22 are horizontally arranged, and the screens 5 extendhorizontally over the valve plates 4, the said screen plate being flushat the, side of the rear end with the A.bottom of the flume andextending at a level mid-width toward each side and comprising fourdiverging port-ions leading to two assuciated riflies or separator units1 or 2 on one side and to corresponding units 1 or 2 on the other sideof the apparatus.

Each of the separator means l may c0nsist of a bottom plate 37 extendingbetween side plates 35 resting on stringers 36, saidv bottom plate 37being preferably formed of a sheet metal stamped or pressed to form aseries of wells or depressions 38, these wells being separated by aplane or fiat portion of the plate 6 and each well having its side wallsor faces converging downwardly. Between side Walls 35 extend deflectorsor baffle plates 40, said deflectors extending obliquely downward intothe wells 38.

The riflle units 2 are similar in construction to units 1, but are oflarger dimensions, as regards the depth of the passages allowed for thewater and material, and thel height and distances of the deiiectors,etc., being so proportioned that they are adapted to operate with, andseparate, material of larger size than is supplied to the riffle units1, and the screens over the gates for. the riflle units 2 are made withlarger perforations than' with the screens for riflie units 1, as shownin Fig. 2.

The operation is as follows :-Gold bearing or metal bearing sand orgravel, pulp or mill tailings, etc., is sluiced into the flume 3 by any`suitable means, and owing to the inclinatien of said flume the materialtravels longitudinally in the fiume passing successively over thedischarge gates 4. The screens 5 of the respectivedischarge gates areperforated in such manner that the smaller particles or components ofthe material pass thro-ugh the first set of screens and deliver ontot-he first set of rifles or' material passing the'flume is finallycleared of all the finer material and the succeeding screens 1n theflume are perforated 1n such manner to allow a coarser grade ofmaterial. y

to pass therethrough, these screens taking successive portions of suchmaterial until this coarser grade is in turn completely rey' moved fromthe body Vof material passing.

The materiall discharged ,from the endofy the flume will contain onlygravel and'other coarse material and may be passed to any suitable'means for further treatment, if.

desired. -The material is thus subjected successively to the action ofner and coarser Nscreens for removing successively finer and coarsergrades `of the material, so that each ritile will have a uniform gradeor tneness of material to operate upon, this being preferable for Vtheeective operation of the rifiles. Especially will these screens andconcentrating flume take the black sand and gold from gravel, etc.,passing the concentrates (black sand and gold) over the rifesdwhere thegold is separated from black san l It will be understood that'more thantwo I sets or grades of screens may be used'if desired. In each set orgrade of screens there `are a plurality 'of gates taking successiveportions of the material of the corres onding grade and distributing itto di erent riiiles'or separator units, so that the amount apportionedto each unit 4will be in exact correspondence with its capacity. Whilethe material is being supplied to the ritlles in this manner, acorresponding detiniteI amount of water is supplied to the riiiies bymeans of the pipes 15, the closures 18 A for said pipes beingy adjustedto permit exactly the proper amount of water to flow to each ritile incorrespondence with the amount of material supplied to the riiie and l,with the Vcapacity of the ritile. The drag 20 forms a yieldingvobstruction in the path of the material inthe flume, so that the ma-lterial andthe -water are held down toward ,the screen, thereby producingadamming up the material and water at the screen so that an extrahead of`say about 3 inches lis provided, and the consequent increase in depthof the water at this point acts in the first' Q place' vto increase thepressure, driving.V the material through the screen,vand in the secondplace, by 'increasing the cross section,- acts to retard the How 'overthe screen, giv- 'ing more time for" the material to pass -throu'gh'theperforations of the screen. The

forward bottom edge or lip 39` of the drag 20 extends 'straightcrosswiseof the flume,

and' acts in conjunction with the central dip of-the'tlume -toconcentrate the How at the oscreen'so as to kee the screen clean. Thesaid'idrag also, by olding back the water, maintainsa sutlicient supplyor 'head of watei` -abve the gate to insure delivery of water throught eopeningsy 14 into the 9:packets or compartments 13 for supplyingthazfiles-throu h'the water feed regulatin?,l pi" '15. oreover, in caseof temporaryv; vuctuato'n in the watersupply, these floatsby backin' upthe water maintain a suiiicient head or' the uniform. operation of theriiesduiing 'the Zuctuation.

'The material-discharged onto each pan or distributingplate- 6 passestherefrom, to-

gether with 'the walter-coming' through the g5 water feedregulating',pipes 15, Aonto the.

A Water through the' rimes.

riiie or separator unit 1 or 2, the material and water passing onto thebottom plate 37 and being caught by the first detlector 40 .so that a-small'quantity of water is accumulated back of the'deector, and thewater and material pass down into the well or depression 38 under asmall definite head of water, say about two inches.` The ,waterandmaterial thus pass downwardly on top of the body of mercury 41', atthebot-tom of they well or depression 38, with a definite velocitynormal to the' surface of the mercury. .The inclination of the bottomplate and the dimensions of the well and of the deflector are suchthatthe velocity of the water in passing over the body of mercury is notsutiicient to disrupt the mercury or to overcome the lsurface tension ofthe mercury. As the material, together with' the water, encounters thedefle'ctor and is deiectedl downwardly, an eddying action results whichseparates the masses of thematerial so that `each individua-l particle`ofy sand, etc., is separately suspended in the water, and thiscondition is maintained during the entire passage of the material an'dAlll of the materials s0 suspended' in the water are heavier than'thewater, and as the combinedl body of water and material passes downwardlyonto the body of mercury, andis thendetlected by the body of mercury,`the heavier ma- .terials willtend to continue in their down-A loof`ciiic gravity of the material and therefore isgreatest Vin the case ofheavy metals, such as gold, etc. Each particle of solid -material thusproduces at a point where it strikes t-he mercury lsu'rface,'a localizedstatic pressurel normal to the surface which tends to drive the particleor body into the mass of mercury, and by properly proportioning the in-lclinations and dimensions of the parts, the static pressure so operatingto force the solid particles into the mercury, against the resistanceoieredv by .the surface' tension thereof, can be made such that'only ma-120 terials of a specific gravity greater than a certain amount, willpenetrate the mercury. For example, in case ofblack sand containing goldand other heavy metals, the pro port-ions will, Vbe such that themomentum imparted tothe 'black sand will not be suiii` cient to enableit 'tp break through the skin V ofthe mercury, butin case of gold andother metals', heavier than black sand, the momentum will be sucieutltg.cause th metal tolan penetrate the body of mercury, and be amalgamatedtherein or to be either retained therein, free milling gold will undersuch circumstances be amalgamated in the mercury, and gold which is socoated or constituted as not to be capable of being amalgamated inmercury, will by virtue of its -greater specific gravityand its downwardvelocity pass to the bottom of the mercury and be there retained. As thematerial and water pass successively to the wells or depressions of theriflies, a further amount of the heavy metal is taken out at each steptreatment of the coarser grade of material by the second set of riiiles,this being necessary in order to avoid packing of the rifiie by thepassage thereinto of a grade of material finer than is adapted to theconditions of velocity, etc. at that riilie. In this connectionit may bestated that the principle of forcing the heavier particles into the bodyof mercury by virtue of their momentum, provides a partial but notperfect compensation for variation in size, for the larger the size of aparticle of a definite specific gravity, the greater will be its massand therefore its momentum, for the definite velocity in the rifiie; andthe area of the particle and of the surface of mercury which has to beopposed and broken by the particle alsoincreases with the size of theparticle,but not in the same proportion as the mass. It is thereforeimportant to segregate the material into grades of different fineness sothat each grade of material can be worked in a rifie with a velocity orstatic head approximately proportioned to the size of the particles.

In some cases, particularly where -a low grade of material is beingworked, it is desirable to subject the material to preliminaryconcentration before it passes to the distributing fiume 3; For thispurpose a supplementary or preliminary concentrating fiume is providedas shown in Figs. 6 to 8, said supplementary fiume 43 extending over thetop of the fiume 3 and resting thereon or on intermediate'members 44.Said members 44 are inclined toward the center of the distributing flume3 and at their outer ends extend upwardly to support the bottom of theconcentrating fiume 43. The bottom of said concentrating flume alsoinclines toward the mid-width thereof and has upwardly extending sidewalls 45 and inner sidewalls 46 forming pockets or compartments 47communicating with the body of the flume by openings 48 in said innerside walls.

A series of openings provided with gates 52 and screens 53 similar tothe gates 4 and screens 5 above described, are provided along the courseof the fiume 43, and for each screen a floating deflector plate or drag54 is provided, hinged in the upper fiume and extendingover thecorresponding screen, the lower or rear end of this deiiector platebeing formed to present a surface oblique to the direction of motion ofmaterial in the fiume. Theopenings 48 in the inner side walls 46 of theupper flume 43 are located between the level of the screens 5 andthe-deflectors 54 so that the water passing down the up er fiume andencountering said deiiectors will be forced partly through said openings48, the latter being protected by screens 58 to prevent gravel, etc.from being carried through into the 'Water supply pockets A47. From eachwater supply pocket 47 a pipe 59 leads through the bottom of said pocketdownwardly into the space beneath the upper fiume, said pipesdischarging onto the intermediate members 44 aforesaid.

l/Vater supply pipes 60 are preferably provided at each gate forclearing the space between the gate 52 and they screen 53 above thesame. The lower fiume 3 and the `riiie units are as above described. Inthe operation of this form of the invention, the material supplied intothe upper fiume 43 is carried downwardly in the same over the successivescreens 53. Any material which is tool large to pass through the screensis simplycarried along and discharged at the lower end. Light material,even if small venougigh to pass through` the screens, is

mostly carried forward by the entraining actlon of the water anddischarged at 'the lower end of the upper flume, but such of4 theheavymat-erial as is small enough to pass through the screens isdischarged through the screens and gates into the lower or distributingfiume 3 where it is acted upon as above described. The supplementary orupper fiume thus provides for the initialconcentration and eliminationof a large proportion of the waste material,

thus increasing the capacity of the distributing and rifiie means.

What' I claim is d l. The combination with a riffle unit, of a saidopening, a gate beneath said screen controlling the flow through thescreen, said gate being spaced from the screen, means for supplyingwater between the screen and gate, and means for conducting the materialfrom the gate to the riiiie unit. A. u

2. The combination with a riiile unit, of a. distributing fiume havingan opening in its n l n o distrlbutlng fiume having a concave bottomwith an opening therein, a screen at ing at the bottom, saidiiume beinginclined from end to end, a horizontal screen at said opening, 4one endof the screen being sub- A 'Stantially on a level with the bottom of thevflume and the other end of the screen being above such bottom adist-ance corresponding to the drop of the fiume in the length of thescreen, forming an opening between said Aend of the screen and thebottom of the ume, a gate beneath said screen, means for conductingmaterial from the gate to Athe ing into the space between the 'screenand` the gate at the end farthest removedfrom the aforesaid open spaceto deliver a curf rent of water through said space.

4. The combination with an inclined flume', a horizontal perforated gateseat in the bottom thereof, a horizontalperforated lgate plate slidingon said gate seat, a horizontal screen above the gate and separated ltherefrom, the space between the seat vand gate opening at one end ontothe bottom of the fiume, and 'a water supply pipe opening into saidspace at the other end thereof to supply -a current of water throughsaid ace.

5. The combination with a riiile unit, of. a iiume having a gate, saidgate being adjustable to control the supply of material therethrough,means for ,conducting material from said gate tothe riiile unit, ascreen for the gate, said screen being above the gate and located in thebottom of the fiume, a re atable water supply connection from t e flumeat said gate discharging onto the rime unit, and delector meansextending over said screen to confine the iiow of water toward thescreen and to control the supply-of water from the flume `to the watersupply connection, said deiector i being pivoted to the flume andextending from itspivotal point longitidinally over the screen and in adown-stream direction.

The combination with a riflle unit, of a flume having a gate in itsbottom, a ioating .deflector in the flume over said gate, and

means forreceiving and conducting to the" riiiieunit, and water supplymeans extendritilt unit the material passing through the ga 7: Thecombination with a ritlie unit, of an lnclined flume having an opening,a screen 1n said opening and located at the bottom ofthe flume, a gatebeneath said screen, means for conducting the material from the gate tothe ritiie unit, and a deflector over said screen, said deflector beingadjustably supported in the fiume to dam up the flume over the screen,whereby an additional head 1s provided o-ver the screen for forcing thematerial through the screen.

8. The combination with a riille unit, o'f a fiume having a gate forsaid riflle unit, a floating deflector extending longitudinally in theHume above the gate, and separated from the gate to form a channel forthe passage of water and material, and a regulatable water supplyconnection communicating with the flume at the side of' said channel, toreceive water from the fiume, and

to deliver water to the ritiie unit.

9. The cdmbination with a riiiie unit, of a flume having an opening inits bottom for said ritlie unit, a screen for said opening, means fordirecting the material and water from said opening to the riile unit,and a deflector pivoted in the Hume at said gate and extending from itspivoted portion longitudinally of the flume over the gate in thedown-stream direction of the Hume,

the down-stream end of said deiector being free to move vertically.

10. The combination of a flume having a.'

gate alon flume, a oating obstructing device extending above said gateto maintain a. definite head at the gate, and a separator unit suppliedfrom the gate.

11. The combination with a series of riflle units, of a distributingHume provided with gates for the respective ritlle units, andaconcentrating fiume extending over the distributing flume and having aseries of screens along its bottom to discharge onto the distributingflume, said concentrating flume beingprovided with lateral waterdischarge outlets, and intermediate members between the flumes toreceive the water from said outlets and lead it to the distributingflume.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my of May, 1908.

EZRA S. HOYT. In presence of F. M. TowNsEND, A. P. KNIGHT, FRANK L. A'.GRAHAM.

its course, in the bottom of the loo hand at Los Angeles this 23rd day

